John was born in Sheffield on 11^th July 1915 and joined the Royal Navy soon after the outbreak of war. Most of his service was in HMS Itchen, a River-class frigate launched in 1942. The vessel was sunk on Thursday 23^rd September 1943 whilst engaged on convoy ON-202 in the North Atlantic when she was hit by an acoustic homing torpedo fired by the German submarine U-666. There were only three survivors from her crew and the eighty-one survivors from HMS Polyanthus and HMCS St. Croix that she was carrying. John was 28 years old and is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial, Devon.

Husband of Teresa Wild of Burniston, Yorkshire: son of Frank Dickinson Wild & Dorothy Wild.

A copy of John's story may be downloaded here.

Revised: November 2025